Seasons of Celebration and Frustration

It’s mid-November, and our leaf color display in the Pacific Northwest this year has been nothing short of spectacular. Our drought is finally over, and all the waterfalls along the trails I typically hike are back. I had avoided those areas in the late summer, because it was just too depressing to observe all the dry creek beds. The weather in autumn is typically my favorite, with cool, crisp sunny days.

But I enjoy all the seasons. Spring is always full of anticipation as the hours of sunlight get noticeably longer each day and the blooms and new leaves emerge. Spring, for us along the coastline in the Pacific Northwest It always takes way too long for the snow to melt in the Cascades here, but it’s often fine for spring snowshoeing, so I can conjure up a little patience to wait for the ability to hike on dry trails.

And then there’s summer, the most amazing season of all for high-country hikers, with all the trails melting out and the North Cascades mountain vistas that extend as far as you can see. Mountain goats and bears are around all year long, but are rarely seen in the winter. We are so blessed in this area to have millions of acres of national forests and so many national parks. There are so many trails to explore in Washington State in every direction, I’ll never be able to hike all of them.

So, now it will soon be full-on winter and all the rainbow colors in the trees will be gone. I will, however, still walk the local trails here in the lowlands. I may be one of the few people who actually enjoy seeing the trees in their naked glory. It’s interesting to me to view the branch structures, the differing textures of bark, and the nests that birds and squirrels have built or hollowed out over the seasons. Without leaves, it’s much easier to see the birds that perch on the branches. Owls and hawks are my special favorites.

We still kayak in the winter, but it’s more of a challenge with wind and cold weather and short hours of sunlight. However, it’s always a delight to get out on the salt water. With luck, there will be kingfishers and all kinds of birds along the shorelines, and in the water, seals and harbor porpoises, and the chance to see orcas and whales.

But then there’s snow. I love to drive to the mountains and play in the white stuff there and receive enthusiastic visits from the gray jays that are always ready for a handout. However, I don’t like to see snow here along the coast of the Salish Sea. Snow mucks up the traffic here like you would not believe, because only a few arterial streets get sanded or cleared, so our neighborhoods are left to cope on their own, and many have steep hills to climb or descend. In my area, I often see folks pour out of their houses to help push a stranded vehicle up the street.

I love my independent single life, I truly do. I have lots of friends and all kinds of fun activities that I participate in, such as hiking and kayaking and snowshoeing, and going to movies, plays, and lectures in town. But each year, the holiday season feels to me like it has been uniquely designed to make those of us who don’t have big families feel like total losers.

But now it’s nearly Thanksgiving and the dreaded holidays are fast approaching! While many people look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas, I detest those holidays, and I guarantee you that many other single, childless people do, too.

I especially dislike Christmas, when everything gets shut down, and so many useless and unwanted items are passed around because of a feeling of obligation. Most Americans have WAY too much “stuff.” It’s awkward to receive a gift that you don’t value. If anyone has to give me a gift, I hope they give me an experience: invite me to dinner or a play, or volunteer to help me fix something around my house.

While I don’t have much in the way of family, many of my friends do, and so they understandably vanish off to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with their relatives. With luck, I may be able to patch together a potluck with a few single friends or married couples who don’t mind having a single woman at their table. For Christmas, instead of buying token items to the few family members I have, I use that money to make donations to worthy causes who help those who truly need assistance.

So, with more time on my hands in this season, I can finally sit down at my desk to write. I’ve been very slow to work on my next mystery, which will be a crossover novel between my Sam Westin wilderness series and my Neema the Gorilla series. Yes, some days it’s hard for me to imagine that, too. But now that I can focus, I’m sure I can pull it off. Stay tuned.

I plan to call this novel If Only, because the theme is about how we all are born into circumstances that may be lucky or unlucky, and we all make choices that may change our lives for better or worse. Imagine how different our lives would be right now if we had been born in Gaza or in Ukraine or Haiti or Ethiopia. Imagine how we might feel if we had bought a lottery ticket for the first time and won a million dollars, or if we had decided to take the boat out and got caught in a big storm.

That’s how the seasons go in my life. I try to “carpe diem” in all of them. And I hope you do, too.